Archive of Talks

Even when we seem to pay objective attention to the flow of our experiences, we often impose a scale of value upon them — pleasing or unpleasing, likable or not — as if this will usher us toward a more pleasant existence. The inconstancy and undependability of phenomena are not our focus. Yet giving our attention… Read more

What are the ways in which some Mindfulness trainings conflict with others?  How can confusion bring clarity, even as clear ideas can lead us so deep into tangles?  Many of us were taught to meditate in quiet environments by teachers whose teachers’ teachers were Forest Monks, practicing in the blooming buzzing confusion that wild nature… Read more

Ever since the publication of Ram Dass’s “Be Here Now” in 1971, most everyone with a spiritual inclination has assumed that here and now are where and when we want to be as fully as possible.  It’s also true that these terms can be quite nuanced, even surprising.  Sam guided our reflections on this terrain… Read more

This week Eveline focused our attention on ways to avoid being overwhelmed as we open our awareness to the wide and intricate webs of connection that unite us, finally, with the whole world.  Excerpts from Sebene Salassie and Nina Wise served as sources with which we can access the wisdom that can keep us grounded… Read more

This week, Payton guided our Sangha on the wide topic of Exhaustion. What is it to be exhausted? I think we all know the feeling. Physical exhaustion is a fairly gross sensation, where the body just doesn’t quite operate the way we want it to, and we may find it actively seeking rest. Exhaustion of… Read more

Typically, we approach the Buddha Dharma with the intention of gaining something: a quiet mind, a lofty insight, a new sense of identity.  With luck and a supple frame of mind, we can learn to observe what is actually currently happening in this mind of ours, which is both vast and tranquil and leaping from… Read more